Commentary; Posted: 7/18/07
Health department mistake or malfeasance?
John Marty
Guest Columnist
The MN Department of Health’s decision not to disclose additional mesothelioma deaths among iron miners is not a “mistake” that an apology will fix.
After legislative hearings and a review of health department memos, it is clear that this was a calculated decision to keep the information secret, without regard to the health impact on miners, until the Pawlenty administration could put the proper spin on it.
Why was this failure to release the information so harmful? In 2003, the health department learned that 17 taconite miners had died from mesothelioma, an asbestos-related form of cancer. At that time the department suggested that it was not taconite dust, but the use of commercial asbestos in certain mining operations that caused the cancer.
In March of 2006, when the department learned that an additional 35 miners had died from mesothelioma, it appeared more likely that the cause was asbestos-like fibers in taconite dust. This means the risk was not only for workers doing welding or other jobs where asbestos was once used, but virtually every mine worker might be susceptible to this deadly cancer.
Gov. Pawlenty’s office says they were unaware of the decision not to disclose the deaths to the public, and they dismiss it as a mistake. Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach says she is sorry and that it was simply bad judgment, but claims she was trying to do the right thing for the miners.
However, internal documents from the health department tell an entirely different story. It is not plausible that the hiding information about health risks from mine workers was done out of concern for the workers. It is contradicted by department memos. Consider this one:
“If this is leaked in any way and there is some digging by the media, we will have hell to pay.... I want to again say that these new data convey very serious consequences for many, many men that other knowledgeable people in the field will define for the media and others if we do not take the lead.”
This memo, from a health department doctor who thought the department should release the information promptly, acknowledges there could be serious consequences for large numbers of workers, yet the focus of its concerns is not on the well-being of the miners, but on how it will be defined in the media.
The health commissioner’s concerns about keeping the information secret was so great that they would not disclose it even to researchers who might have been able to help interpret the meaning of the findings:
At a legislative committee hearing in June, one department employee testified she did not believe she could share the information about the new mesothelioma deaths even with a senior epidemiologist who was working for the department, because the commissioner made it clear the information was not to be disclosed to anyone until the governor’s office approved its disclosure.
“We were told not to talk about the numbers so we did not talk about them, even to staff who would have done that type of work. So, it wasn’t done.”
“Department officials were so concerned about a possible leak that they excluded two prominent University of Minnesota researchers from scientific consultation because they had been critical of the health department in the past.” (Star Tribune investigative report, June 17, 2007)
Keeping it secret from scientific researchers who should be analyzing it; this was not done to protect the miners.
After the findings had been kept secret for almost a year, we know that Cleveland-Cliffs, the mining company, was fully aware of the information, and was working with the Pawlenty administration on coordinating press releases relating to the disclosure of it.
One memo turned over by the department shows some of the questions they were preparing for:
“Why do you need to wait for federal funding to begin work on the mesothelioma study? Given the potential significance of this issue for people who still work in the industry, why wasn’t this included in the governor’s budget?”
Here we have the state agency responsible for protecting public health secretly meeting with the mining company to discuss the political consequences for the Pawlenty administration and the mining company when they release the information to the public.
Remember, this secret meeting with all of these discussions about spin occurred well after the date that Gov. Pawlenty’s office admitted that they had been fully briefed on the matter. They can claim that they were totally in the dark at the beginning, but by this stage, the governor’s office was involved.
Mandernach repeatedly has stated they did not want to release the information about health risks to the miners until the administration had “all their ducks in a row.”
Forget about the Pawlenty administration’s ducks. How about showing some concern for the miners and their families?
No, this was not a mistake. It was a cynical attempt to protect the Pawlenty administration’s political interests. It is time for Commissioner Mandernach, and those in the governor’s office who were involved, to be dismissed.
John Marty is a state senator from Roseville and writes To the Point! for the Apple Pie Alliance. He can be reached at jmarty@apple-pie.org.
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